My laptop recently got a bad virus. I decided to reformat using the recovery disk I burned originally. All was going well until I put in the 2nd recovery disk. The disk is bad I put it in another to confirm no info is left on it.
My question is:
Can I install windows Xp pro (I have a license for a copy), then download and install drivers from sony. How much of a pain is that?

or

Do I have to buy recovery disk from sony

Is there no recovery partiton?

If you can get the same version of windows installed you can use the key that came with the laptop.

For example if you have a friend with a XP home CD and it was XP home on the laptop you could use the key that came with the laptop to activate windows.

- hope this helps.

I believe I did allow space the last time I formatted. As far as getting to or finding the key I think I am up the river since all info ...(including disk) is on the laptop itself upon purchase. (no physical media when I bought the laptop new).
I think recovery is not an option at this point, I need to do a full reinstall.
Any ideas on installing my own version of windows (pro) and then getting the Sony drivers? Is it a huge pain?

If there is no recovery partition and you can't or don't want to recover the system then I see no harm in installing XP Pro, you should be able to get most drivers as long as you know what drivers you need.

On the Sony site does it let you choose which operating system to download drivers for?

If there is no recovery partition and you can't or don't want to recover the system then I see no harm in installing XP Pro, you should be able to get most drivers as long as you know what drivers you need.

On the Sony site does it let you choose which operating system to download drivers for?

Sony just has windows xp (not Pro) and vista as OS. Do you think there will be an issue with having a slightly different OS?
I am beginning to think buying the disk might not be a bad idea. I am ok with building and installing a system, but troubleshooting adverse effects of drivers? forget about it. lol
Thanks for the input BTW---

If you have a Pro disk why not try it. Windows should install, you may have to get drivers for ethernet adapters, graphics card etc but you can use tools to detect them.

If you current OS is working try to find out the what devices are on your computer using the device manager.

- PC Wizard 2008 Try this for scanning the hardware.

- Product Key Finder Try this for getting the windows product key if you can borrow a XP home CD.

Good luck with sorting your OS.

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